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The Arizona Show

By Lawrence Downes April 24, 2012 5:04 pmApril 24, 2012 5:04 pm

Luke Sharrett for The New York TimesSenator Charles Schumer during a hearing regarding the constitutionality of local governments enforcing immigration law, Tuesday, April 24, 2012 on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.

Senator Charles Schumer of New York, chairman of the Judiciary Committee’s subcommittee on immigration, refugees and border security, called a hearing this morning on Arizona’s immigration law.

The subcommittee has 11 members. Only two showed up: Mr. Schumer and Richard Durbin of Illinois. All five Republicans stayed away. Jon Kyl of Arizona said the hearing was “strictly political theater” – Democrats blustering against the law, SB1070, on the day before the Supreme Court was to hear arguments over its constitutionality.

But four Democrats – Patrick Leahy, Dianne Feinstein, Al Franken and Richard Blumenthal – were absent, too. Maybe they agreed with Mr. Kyl.
If this was supposed to be theater, I’m glad I didn’t have to buy a ticket.

Very little was illuminated and nothing was accomplished, except the granting of a platform to Russell Pearce, the former Arizona state senator who sponsored SB1070 and was later thrown out of office by constituents weary of his anti-immigration tirades.

If Mr. Schumer had wanted to embarrass Mr. Pearce, he failed. Mr. Pearce and his Arizona allies, like Gov. Jan Brewer and Sheriff Joe Arpaio, cannot be embarrassed. Mr. Pearce mumbled his way through Mr. Schumer’s mild questioning and stayed out of trouble. He insisted that the law’s intentions were pure and took offense at the suggestion that the police in Arizona were ever less than honorable. SB1070 seems to encourage, if not require, racial profiling – cops are expected to demand the papers of suspicious characters who appear to be illegal immigrants because of the clothes they wear, among other things. But Mr. Pearce said that never happens. (What does an illegal immigrant look like? Mr. Schumer did not get an answer.)

Only Mr. Durbin seemed to know what he was doing. Mr. Durbin, who is the sponsor of the Dream Act, which would legalize blameless young immigrants who enter college or the military, named and held up large photos of potential Dream Act recipients. It was an inspiring array of scholars and soldiers, who would also be targets of SB1070.

Another witness, Arizona State Senator Steve Gallardo, gave a precise summary of the ways SB1070 has terrorized and split families and spurred vigilantism. Dennis DeConcini, the former Arizona senator, pointed out that Mr. Pearce and others had consistently exaggerated or concocted alarming stories and statistics about violence on the southern border. He said he was “embarrassed” for his state.

I’d have been more impressed if Mr. DeConcini had mentioned that he is on the board of Corrections Corporation of America, a huge benefactor of the boom in immigration detention spurred by Arizona-style crackdowns.

Mr. Schumer said a few things, and talked about legislation he was planning to forbid states to wage their own immigration crackdowns — a fallback bill in case the Supreme Court upholds the Arizona law. It’s a bill that will never get through Congress, but Mr. Schumer seems more interested in using it to score points with Latino voters.

To that end Mr. Schumer, for the record, noted the absence of a Republican, any Republican. Then the gavel fell.